Friday, January 9, 2009

world wide recession web

Yesterday was not a good day at work. 25% of my office mates were laid off. This was done for solid financial reasons, and I'm sure it is good for the company as a whole. As business decisions go, this one was necessary.

But even so, it just all-around sucks. The whole day was awful. No chance to say good-bye. Good friends being walked to the door, under surveillance by the HR department. Lots of tears and empty faces. I almost felt guilty for being one of the ones left standing.

Honestly, I don't know how else it could have been done. I don't think there is any good way to do this sort of thing.

But late last night....we all started connecting on-line. An Instant Message here - a Facebook comment there - a new LinkedIn connection and a Twitter thrown in for good measure. It didn't change the facts. But it helped me for some reason. At one point, I was simultaneously IM-ing with 3 different people.

If we could just find a way to buy someone a beer over the internet, then we'd be all set.



4 comments:

Bridgett said...

Well, crap, that's depressing. I was just saying to Mike yesterday that with all the gloom and doom on NPR, we don't know anyone who has been directly affected (job loss) by this economic downturn (except for relatives of mine who are only marginally employable anyway). But 25% of the staff cut. Wow.

LisaS said...
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LisaS said...
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LisaS said...

25% in one day month ago? good grief, i have been busy. sorry it's been so long.

the Husband's firm laid off 25% of their staff between 12/1 & 2/1. and everyone took a pay cut and no bonuses. and i'd say at least 1/4 of my architect friends are out of work. we're the lucky ones, but for how long?

(sorry about the double delete. kept getting numbers wrong.)